The Battle of Stormberg Boer War 1899 to 1902

[Africa]

Yes this pic above shows you all what the terrain was like when The British were attacked by The Boers, The British were lead by Lieutenant- General Sir William Forbes Gatacre however his troops that were leading the way, got horribly lost during the night and this was when The Boers took advantage of the situation, basically Gatacre had 3000 men below him in his command, they advanced on the 9th December to attack The Boers which he was supposed to surprise in the morning, anyway it is a long story, you can do a web search to obtain the full story if you want to, but basically The Boers stuffed up The British force, The Boers took 600 prisoners, killed another 26 and wounded another 68 British soldiers.

Anyway for the last six months, I have been trying to contact the farmer who ownes this land where this battle took part, I emailed him a letter asking for permission to go and hunt on his farm, eventually he has given me permission to do so, but first to just give you all an idea of the layout of this vast area, here are some more pic's,



These two above photo's show you were the actual battle took place, on the far hill to the left in the first pic, This is where The Boers had some of their cannons sighted.
Thus I went out hunting a few weeks back, it was a very hot day, I took along lots of ice and Coca Cola as well as an old towel which I kept wet and put it over my head to try and keep cool, however with the earphones, peak cap and having to bend down often, it was sort of in the way.



Due to the harsh hot conditions that we have been experiencing, the ground was hard as concrete.

About midday, it was so hot, that I went for a walk along these cliff behind me from where the photo's were taken and I found hidden behind some trees, this cave, it was not too deep, but it gave me just enough shade to get out of the hot sun and to rest my poor old body.

However now for the interesting part, that I am sure that some of you will find of interest, I found these Bushmen Paintings in this cave as well and thus here are a few more pic's of what they looked like.



I am sure that these painting have not been seen by many white people before due to the way in how this cave is hidden from sight.



will continue next page below.

[seger98]

Pretty interesting so far!

[Africa]

The reason why I am carrying on here, I do not know how long a person can make a topic and do not wish to loose all the info.

So you must be wondering what did I find while I was hunting there? Well I will keep you all in suspense until tomorrow evening, it is late here in South Africa and I am off to bed, but just a hint, I did find some very interesting items, (balls from mussel loaders) and much more

[d2]

Man, I love those pictures!!! What about the Zulu wars, can you detect around any of those battle sites like Roarks Rift and such. Waiting on your pictures...d( born one continent to far west and way to late for the Victorian age )2

[mickk]

Great pics and story so far. I will try to google earth the position and look over the battlefield. To find where the Pommies had camped, look for the dumbest place you can find, thats where they would be in those days.

Fantastic rock art, definatelty worth sending those pics to the Museum.

I reckon you will find plenty. But the Boer were excellent shots, I wonder if you find any of their spent ammo?

[allen]

those are awesome drawings in that cave !!